Why Business Travelers Don’t Play Nice With Company Policy

Andrew Sheivachman, Skift

- May 11, 2018 12:30 am

Skift Take

What makes business travelers tick? A new report finds that even strict corporate travel policies aren’t effective. More thought and research need to be put into consumerizing the corporate travel experience in a way that works for both companies and their employees.

— Andrew Sheivachman

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New research from American Express Global Business Travel lays bare the truth about how business travelers behave: namely, that they put their own interests above the demands of their company.

The study shows what we all should know by now: People love to travel for business, but don’t really want to feel restricted or stressed by the rules they have to follow. U.S. business travelers have stricter policies than the rest, but they’ll still go rogue if they want to. There is evidence, though, that incentives can tweak business traveler behavior in a useful way.

Nobody really wants to be told what to do, especially if they end up having a stressful trip because of cost-saving restrictions. It stands to reason that if strict travel policies were a silver bullet for the rogue traveler, then everyone would have one.

We’ve also got the latest on changes at vital global airlines and tweaks to prominent hotel loyalty programs that you need to know.

If you have any feedback about the newsletter or tips, feel free to reach out via email at as@skift.com or tweet me @sheivach.

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Photo Credit: A business traveler works in a Cathay Pacific lounge. Travel managers need to rely on nuance and data when figuring out if a strict policy is really most effective for controlling spending. Cathay Pacific